Julian Lincoln Simon Quotes
This increase in the world's population represents humanity's victory against death.
Julian Lincoln Simon, 1932–1998, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, The State of Humanity: Steadily Improving, Cato Institute Policy Report, September/October 1995
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In the next century, the American lifespan increased over a decade—true social progress.
Darwin believed at the time that large populations were critical to national success and development. The next 100 years would prove that large population was a handicap to progress and real growth of standard of living.
The magnificent result of modern civilization has been to extend the average lifespan of humans by decades. What Galton called “weakly lives” are those that were eradicated by smallpox, bubonic plague, polio and hundreds of other diseases and risks where we have strengthened mankind and not simply succumbed to all the many natural dangers. At the same time however, civilization has added risks and dangers to human life. Automobile crashes, industrial accidents and the like. The balance has been well in favor of “civilization.”
By symbols be was not only referring to metaphorical symbols of letters, words, digrams, numbers and formulas. The vast majority of all human knowledge is spread by symbols of one kind or another. The must sophisticated devices or weapons all boil down to sets of words, formulas and diagrams. Art is almost all symbolic.
There were few reformers who had such a long, extensive, and activist career in both England and India. She began her career as a minister’s wife but was literally turned out of her house by her husband for whom she was not religiously orthodox enough. This started her religious activism which ended with her as an atheist. She led a match-girl’s strike, founded a Hindu college in India, and was even arrested for pornography in England when she wrote a book advocating birth control. She is on many lists of “Great Indians” along with Gandhi and Nehru. She was Jiddu Krishnamurti’s teacher.
The French were at the time considered the major barrier to growth and development of the colonies.
The Clinton Administration decided not to issue the directive. To do so would have embroiled the administration in a huge abortion debate as the NSC has previously observed that no nation has ever reduced its population growth without using abortion as one of the techniques. India, for example, utilized both abortion and sterilization—both offensive to segments of American public opinion.
This is a counter-intuitive fact which surprises almost everyone. Note that he does not claim that the entire world population could all live in New York, but the enormous amount of indoor space is clearly illustrated by the fact that all could fit in to the city.
Most defenders of the Capitalist system that produces large inequities argue that interfering in the free market wouldl be worse. However this thesis argues that the inequality is actually good for the people including those at the low end of the ladder.
26 years after the Castro led Cuban Revolution Although the Cuban economy tanked under Castro’s communism, the progress in health, nutrition and education were amazing—the greatest progress in the least time that occurred in history except for the possible exception of Israel. Castro, however, accomplished these achievements trampling over people’s individual rights. If a Cuban was literate, it mattered not whether he/she wanted to teach others. This was a requirement with no pay provided.
Julian Lincoln Simon was an American professor of business administration at the University of Maryland and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute at the time of his death, after previously serving as a longtime economics and business professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
